Categories
Books & Novels Digital Books Fantasy, Horror, & Science Fiction STAR TREK-Related

STAR TREK: GENERATIONS (1994 Movie Novelization)

Written by J.M. Dillard Based Upon The Story & Script Co-Written by

Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, & Rick Berman.

SUMMARY:

First released in 1994 by Simon and Schuster’s Pocket Books imprint, Star Trek: Generations’ novelization was penned by J.M. Dillard.  Depending upon its format, the page count for Dillard’s novel evidently varies from about 280 pages up to 304 pages.

Set approximately a year after the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the now-retired Captain James T. Kirk, Montgomery Scott, and Pavel Chekov are on hand for the U.S.S. Enterprise-B’s media-friendly launch ceremony.  A subsequent space emergency inflicts severe damage upon the new Enterprise during its rescue of survivors from three crippled El-Aurian refugee ships due to the destructive Nexus ribbon. 

Among the characters introduced are helmsman Ensign Demora Sulu (Hikaru Sulu’s daughter); the Enterprise-B’s rookie Captain: John Harriman; and a deranged El-Aurian scientist, Dr. Soran.  In a cameo appearance, The Next Generation’s Guinan is among the rescued refugees.  The legendary Captain Kirk, however, is among those casualties tragically lost in space amidst this makeshift rescue mission.

Seventy-eight years later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard anguishes over news of his estranged brother and beloved nephew having perished in a fire at the family’s French vineyard.  Picard’s grief is interrupted by Dr. Soran, who has suspiciously survived a Romulan onslaught upon the space station he was working from.  Having stolen an experimental and ultra-destructive power source known as ‘tri-lithium,’ Soran’s ruthless scheme becomes apparent.  He intends to detonate a star impacting far-off-planet Veridan III to expedite his reunion with the time-warping Nexus. 

Like others familiar with The Nexus, awaiting Soran inside is immortality and escapes to seemingly all of his heart’s greatest wishes.  With hundreds of millions of innocent lives at stake, the lone obstacle impeding Soran is Picard’s valiant crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D.  And quite possibly a long-lost Starfleet hero seeking to make a difference once more.         

Instead of further reiterating the film’s main plot and various subplots, included are some highlights that aren’t in the film.    

  1. Following Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the novel begins in 2293 with the U.S.S. Enterprise-A crew’s farewell party.  Foreshadowing a hint of his ultimate fate, Captain Kirk rues a lingering back injury.  He also realizes that retirement will prove far lonelier than expected.  After Carol Marcus rejects his pseudo-marriage proposal, Kirk subsequently exchanges parting gifts and temporary goodbyes with Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy. 
  • Over the next several months, Kirk relentlessly pushes himself through a series of physically strenuous hobbies to alleviate his boredom.  Among his reckless new pursuits is orbital skydiving, which the also-retired Montgomery Scott and Pavel Chekov witness in a mixture of worry and envy.  Note: The orbital skydiving sequence was filmed with William Shatner, James Doohan, and Walter Koenig, but it was deleted from the movie’s theatrical version. 
  • An emergency drill aboard the U.S.S. Excelsior ends after Chekov notifies Captain Sulu of their captain’s death.
  • Spock and Dr. McCoy poignantly reunite as the first guests to arrive at Kirk’s memorial service.
  • Kirk’s nearly eighty-year existence within The Nexus is expanded, including a marriage ceremony to Carol Marcus, with their late son, David, in attendance.
  • Indicating that Dillard composed the novel during the movie’s initial filming schedule, Kirk’s original death sequence is depicted.  Yet, its content was panned in test screenings and subsequently replaced in a hasty reshoot prior to the movie’s November 1994 release.    

Note: This title has been released in multiple formats, including hardcover, paperback, and audiobook. 

REVIEW:

Given the script’s contrived content (i.e. a laundry list of Paramount and/or Rick Berman’s cookie-cutter plot edicts), novelist J.M. Dillard merits some applause for salvaging what she can.  Case in point: it’s easy to visualize Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley playing out her well-written chapel sequence.  The same applies to imagining the Kirk/Carol Marcus wedding scene, as this segment adds some welcome depth to Kirk’s Nexus experiences.  Depth, not to mention, plausibility … yes, that’s where this novelization, unfortunately, becomes a mixed bag.

Like several other Trek authors (in this instance, i.e. Peter David, Vonda N. McIntyre), Dillard is effective in freshly mining the franchise’s primary characters and conveying them as believably as one could.  Still, even Dillard’s solid literary talents can’t fix The Nexus’ preposterous nature into anything resembling dramatic Trek storytelling.  Given how The Nexus was abandoned by the franchise as a single one-and-done concept, Dillard is left too little substance that is legitimately compelling to work from.  This assessment of implausibility applies equally to The Nexus and Data’s eye-rolling emotion chip crisis.    

Hence, Dillard’s work predictably falls short of McIntyre’s underrated movie novelizations of Star Treks II and III exploring the unintended repercussions of The Genesis Device.  More so, unlike Peter David’s stellar Star Trek: The Next Generation – Imzadi, Dillard doesn’t have access to a far better Trek time-warping concept: the Guardian of Forever. 

As with much of the film’s cast, J.M. Dillard at least imbues Star Trek: Generations with more class than its hackneyed storyline frankly merits.  Still, for fans who enjoy Star Trek: Generations onscreen as is, Dillard’s novelization makes for a welcome treat.  Casual readers, otherwise, ought to find her novel as a slightly above-average adaptation. 

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

None.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                    6 Stars

By oddmoonmediareviews

ODD MOON MEDIA REVIEWS

Welcome! This consumer blog reviews books, movies, CD’s, comics, TV episodes, toys, video games, and other media-related products vying for your downtime. We’ll cover a gamut of mainstream items to the more obscure. Hopefully, our assessments will provide some helpful shopping insights. Our Odd Moon ratings system allots 0-10 stars. For instance, a 5-7 star range indicates an ‘average’ score.

This blog’s intent isn’t to push or knock certain manufacturers & retailers. Still, our reviews might recommend alternatives and/or other items of similar interest. By this same token, unless asked, we won’t speculate on a product’s realistic market value.

Please contact us at oddmoonmediareviews@gmail.com for further details. You can expect a prompt reply. On that note, we wish you good fortune with your treasure-hunting!

BDC
October 2020